Dive to the Past
by DuncanIdaho2014
Summary: The side of Light failed to stop Xehanort... the first time. In a freak accident, Xehanort's attempt to destroy Sora actually sent him back into the past. Knowing the storm to come, he does things a little different. Watch as Sora relives his adventures, this time as a true Master of the Keyblade, as he fights to stop the darkness before it begins.


**Brief backstory to this fic's inception: bought 1.5 remix, fell in love with KH all over again, started looking for fanfics, and realized that one of my favorite subgenres was all but nonexistent. And so, here is my humble attempt at a KH time travel fic. Feel free to flame, reviews are like weed: even the bad stuff gives you a giddy feeling.**

**P.S. This fic begins during the climax of Kingdom Hearts 3 (as envisioned by me for the purposes of this fic), so if you haven't played, well, everything, then there will be MASSIVE spoilers!**

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the trademark and property of Square Enix and Disney, not me. My only profit from this is my muse's purring.**

* * *

The Keyblade Graveyard. Thousands of years ago, perhaps the place had been beautiful. But time and war had ravaged the whole world until it was naught but a barren wasteland. Dusty plains stretched endlessly, broken only by great plateaus of harsh rock and ravines that seemed unnatural, as if they were scars from swords wielded by gods. On the greatest plain, a crossroad existed. The four massive roads were formed from the space between what gave the world its name. Hundreds, even thousands, of beautiful swords forged in imitation of keys were impaled into the ground. Each one of these Keyblades marked a Wielder that had fallen during the War. At the intersection, a great pillar rose high into the sky.

It was here, on this forsaken land, that the first true clash between Light and Darkness had taken place.

And now, it played host to what was maybe the last.

The time had come. Sora and his friends had done all they could. Now, they were ready to take on Xehanort. On this day, they would put an end to a madman's schemes, or they would die trying. Seven lights would clash with thirteen darknesses, and the fate of Kingdom Hearts would be decided.

Of course, it wasn't going to be quite that simple.

"You know," Lea panted, "when I signed up for this big final confrontation for the X-blade, nobody mentioned that the bad guys were going to bring A FUCKING ARMY!"

"Less whining, more fighting!" Ven shouted as he tore through a horde of Soldiers like a whirlwind.

The odds were not on the side of Light. Bound to protect the World Order, the gang had not brought along any of their many allies to this fight. The seven Wielders were not allowed to interfere with the workings of a world, and pulling out a denizen for a fight from which there was no guarantee they would come back counted as interference. The only friends that had come along were Donald and Goofy, and that was because they had threatened to literally glue themselves to King Mickey if he didn't allow it.

The heroes of the Light? Sora (who thought that this was possibly the worst 17th birthday present in history), Riku (testing the limits of his increased power as a Master), King Mickey (with Donald and Goofy by his side, of course), Aqua (rescued from the Realm of Darkness), Ventus (recently awakened and eager to fight), Lea (whom was sometimes still called Axel by accident), and Kairi (demonstrating that being a Princess of Heart didn't stop her from kicking ass).

Facing against them were 10 incarnations of Xehanort, Isa, Braig, and surprisingly Maleficent. Everyone expected her to try and double-cross the insane Keyblade Master, but that was small comfort; she completed the set of 13 dark beings needed to reform the X-blade. And, since they were evil and fair was a four-letter word, they had brought along enough Heartless and Nobodies to conquer a world ten times over.

From the second the battle had begun, the new Organization XIII had done absolutely no fighting. They had left all the work to their minions and watched from afar as the seven heroes (plus two) struggled against the endless waves of enemies.

Aqua flowed with lightning speed, seemingly striking at the empty air. She came to a halt, her Keyblade held in the stance of her last slash. Behind her, three Stealth Sneaks faded into existence only to collapse to the ground. She took a second to catch her breath and glanced at No Name. She had chosen it both for its incredible power and as a bit of a good luck charm; she had earned it when she had defeated Young Xehanort, though she had not been privy to his identity at the time. She glanced at a nearby group of Dancers, whom seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move. "Am I the only one noticing that they're going easy on us?"

"I thought that was wishful thinking," Riku called back, using Way to the Dawn to cleave through a Defender's shield. "None of them are going for the kill, and they keep pulling back. I've never seen Heartless or Nobodies act like this. Why are they letting us beat them?"

"Isn't it obvious?" King Mickey jumped up and bashed a Berserker's head with his Kingdom Key D. "Xehanort needs all seven of us alive if he wants the X-blade. But he has to make sure he wins if he wants to take control of Kingdom Hearts. All these fellas are just here to tire us out so he doesn't have to lift a finger to beat us."

"Gawrsh, that's really sneaky of him!" Goofy held his head, trying to get his eyes to stop spinning. He'd done a few too many Tornadoes in a row.

Donald turned from blasting a swarm of Red Nocturnes with Blizzard magic. "Aw, what do you expect, you big palooka? They're bad guys!"

Kairi didn't bother to add in. She barely had time to think as it was. Though Yen Sid had praised her as a natural, she had still only held a Keyblade for a few months. And while the army might be meant to be defeated, that didn't mean the horde wouldn't break a bone or six. She fended off the claws of a group of Shadows before reducing them to mist. She turned to find a Samurai, already in its stance. Time slowed until each heartbeat was an eternity. Every sense came alive as Kairi waited, tense as a taut bowstring. At last, the Nobody twitched. Kairi dashed forward at full speed and took the opening. Destiny's Embrace slashed through the Samurai, destroying it in an instant. Kairi sucked in as much oxygen as she could to appease her burning muscles, and blew her hair out of her eyes on the exhale. "Wow, I should have gone with a ponytail. How does Tifa do it?"

She was interrupted from her grumbling by a foreboding rumble behind her. Spinning around, her eyes widened in shock as she saw a Darkside, its fist already halfway towards her. She was out of mana, so a Reflect was out of the question, and there wasn't enough time to do anything else. Kairi braced herself for the pain, but was startled when the massive Heartless dissolved before it could touch her. Her eyes caught the man responsible and she felt her lips lift up in an involuntary smile.

Sora smiled back, his hair as spiky and messy as ever. In his fist he held the Ultima Weapon, the greatest creation of the Moogles and its own reward for scavenging the worlds for rare materials. He pulled out a golden gourd and took a sip of the contents before handing it over to Kairi. "Pass that on. This could go on for a while." Even in the midst of battle, the brunette still blushed when he felt Kairi's hand touch his as she grabbed the Megalixer.

Kairi took a healthy gulp of the restorative liquid, feeling the effects almost instantly. Fatigue vanished, scratches healed, and her mana surged back to full. She wiped her mouth and grinned. "Thanks for the help." She felt a little thrill as she saw his cheeks get even darker. They had finally admitted their feelings for each other shortly after leaving Destiny Islands to go on this latest quest. Sora hadn't wanted to jinx it or threaten their mission with a distraction, but Kairi had put her foot down. In the (sadly very likely) event that they lost, she wanted to have enjoyed as much time as she could have with the boy she'd given her heart to.

"Oi! You guys can make goo-goo eyes and bump uglies _after_ we win!" Lea shouted as he passed by in a swirl of flame. Turns out that the redhead was an even bigger pyro than his Nobody. Sora turned red as a tomato, memories of a certain magical night running through his head. Kairi just growled and threw the Megalixer at Lea's head. She still had a bit of a grudge from the time 'he' had kidnapped her. "Thanks!" he shouted when the snatched the item out of the air, depriving Kairi of her revenge.

"Save you later, lazy bum," Kairi muttered before dashing after Lea, whether to help him or throttle him being up for debate. Sora shook his head and focused back on the war waging around him. Casting one last glance after the girl he would die for, Sora faced the army arrayed against him and charged.

Battle has a curious way of distorting time. Minutes can fly like seconds, or drag like centuries. It probably has something to do with the adrenaline. The mind seizes each second for all it's worth, and then discards it to make room for the next. It's a thrilling form of oblivion, being free from thought, filled only with the rush of cheating death. War was Hell, yes, but it was also the sweetest drug humanity had ever concocted.

As such, for Sora if felt like a blink of an eye later that the battlefield was almost clear, even though his screaming muscles and the position of the sun attested it had been hours. At the other end of the battleground, the Islander spotted Mickey and Goofy riding the Big Magic Mountain, tearing through a swiftly thinning mass of Neoshadows and Dusks. That had to be the most ridiculous, coolest way to fight the Darkness ever. He turned away, his eye searching for his next target more from muscle memory than anything else.

A Behemoth roared and pounced at him, its impact shaking loose a few of the grave markers. Digging deep, Sora leapt high into the air, going higher than some could manage with a trampoline. He twisted his body and landed right on the towering Behemoth's back, already facing its vulnerable horn. He dashed forward and unleashed a barrage of blows. His Keyblade left deep scratches, but the horn proved very resilient. Roaring in pain, the Behemoth bucked unexpectedly, launching Sora off. He landed badly and hissed in pain. Looking up, he noticed energy gathering around the Heartless's tusks. "Oh, great."

"Sora!" The teen grinned as Donald appeared next to him, green tendrils of healing magic suffusing his aching body and making everything feel better. The unintelligible duck held out a hand and lifted Sora back to his feet. "Let's do it together!" Grinning at his friend, Sora knelt and let Donald hop onto his shoulders. He reached for the power of Light the Keyblade granted him and channeled it into his friend, making the feathery mage glow white. Without further ado, Donald conjured enough fireworks to blow up a mountain and aimed them all at the Behemoth's horn. Five seconds later, the giant Heartless vanished in a rather spectacular demise.

Sora ignored the mild headache that came from using so much magic at once, and turned to face one of his best friends. "Thanks, Donald. But I could have taken him."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, sure." Donald rolled his eyes. "Don't you remember what we said? All for one, one for all!"

Sora smiled. "Always."

Donald laughed his quaking laugh. Then he screamed as a hand plunged into his back and ripped out his heart.

Sora felt weird. He was numb all over, like he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. And he was hallucinating. Because there was no way Donald could be lying on the ground in a puddle of blood. There was no way Xehanort's Heartless could be standing in front of him, a glowing heart floating above his palm. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be.

The Seeker of Darkness smirked. "It has been entertaining, watching you fight the inevitable. But the destined time is at hand. And this fool's presence can no longer be humored. He is not one of the Seven, and so he must be disposed of." With that, the corporeal Heartless crushed the heart, _Donald's heart_, in his gloved fist. Donald's corpse vanished in a blur of shadows.

Far away, another Wizard and Sorcerer came into being.

'Ansem' chuckled sinisterly as he vanished into a corridor of darkness, leaving Sora to fall to his knees, cruel reality sinking into him as he realized that this was truly happening.

"**DONAAAAAAAAAALD!**"

The others jerked their heads towards the sound. Never had they heard so much pain in Sora's voice. Kairi didn't even think, immediately charging towards her lover, mowing through any creature that got in her way. The others followed in her wake, but it almost wasn't necessary. What was left of the army was starting to depart, fading into Darkness or Nothing, leaving the Graveyard empty.

"SORA! Sora, what's wrong?" Kairi fell to her knees and looked her boyfriend in the eyes. He didn't even seem to see her. His eyes seemed stuck somewhere around her knees. She was already so filthy from battle that she didn't notice the fresh wetness there that explained everything.

"Why were you screaming that duck's name, little bro?" Ventus asked a bit less gentle but just as concerned as the princess. Ven considered Sora as good as blood after he found out how tied their lives had been; the man-child owed his very existence to Sora. He found the need to insist he was older to make up the fact that his body hadn't aged a day while his heart slept.

"Now thatcha mention it, where is Donald?" Goofy asked, looking around as if expecting his friend to pop out and shout boo.

Mickey knelt to the ground, his eyes already filling with tears. With shaking hands, he picked up Save the Queen from the dusty ground. He wasn't as naïve as Goofy; he had known what happened the instant he heard the pain in Sora's voice. With a heavy heart, he turned to show the dropped staff to the group. Comprehension was instant.

"Shit." Axel covered his eyes, trying to hide his own tears. This was the downside to having a heart again. You could feel pain again.

Goofy took the staff from his King, clutching it to his chest. He let loose a howl, the most doglike thing anyone had ever seen him do. It was a haunting sound, full of loss and despair. It seemed to go on forever, echoing off the barren land. When at last it ended, Goofy fell to pieces. He collapsed to the ground and broke into convulsive sobs. It wasn't anything like Sora's shock; Goofy was broken.

Kairi swallowed her sadness and held Sora as tight as she could, trying to silently convey what comfort she could. It seemed to get through to him, as he slowly brought up his arms to hold her as well. For a moment, that was all there was; the heroes of light standing in mourning of their fallen comrade.

"Well, this is a touching scene."

Everyone but Goofy turned to face the voice. Master Xehanort stood before them, a condescending smirk on his weathered face, flanked by his Organization XIII. If looks could kill, the glares the wielders sent would have vaporized them all on the spot.

"I don't think I need bother with the mutt. He won't be bothering anyone in that state," he continued.

"XEHANORT!" Sora yelled, his eyes flashing yellow for a moment as he tore out of Kairi's arms and charged. He was deaf to the cries of his friends, to the voice of reason in his head that this was a suicide charge. His heart was too full of rage to care. The aging master raised his arm in a negligible gesture, his own Keyblade appearing in a flash of harsh dark light to block Sora's overhead swipe.

Xehanort efficiently blocked all of Sora's strikes as he slowly moved away from the group. "Your power has improved, boy, but it is meaningless. Today, you will lose. Today, I will end the tyranny of Light and bring balance to the worlds once more! Today, the X-blade will be MINE!" As if the speech were a signal, six of the members vanished only to appear in a circular formation around everyone. Raising their arms, they conjured a barrier of darkness, locking the seven Lights in. There was no escape. The conflict that would decide the fate of every world had begun.

While Sora and Xehanort engaged in what could only charitably be called a duel (it was more like a matador taunting a bull), the remaining six Keybearers moved away from the inconsolable Goofy to face the six remaining members of the Organization, all with their hoods down. Everyone seemed to know who they would be fighting without anything needing to be said.

"Maleficent," Mickey spat, as furious and intimidating as his feeble stature could allow. "Even I never imagined you could fall this far. You cursed Minnie to be barren, destroyed so many worlds, and now you're siding with that maniac… I should have killed you when I had the chance."

The fairy cackled, green flame starting to flicker around her as Diablo took wing from her staff. "Indeed you should have, _my King_. But you were too softhearted, and merely banished me after I took my rightful vengeance against the King of my birth world. Not that I wouldn't have left that sickening world of yours on my own sooner or later. Darkness is so much more tolerable than your sickly-sweet Light."

In a flash, Mickey launched himself at the Mistress of Evil, the Kingdom Key D almost decapitating her before she vanished to the edge of the barrier in a flash of flame. She started to rain dark magic on the King, who responded by showing how size truly did not matter as long as you were a badass.

Riku slashed at the Guardian while the man that had nearly ruined his life laughed. "How pathetic. This is what you are without the Darkness, Riku: nothing but a boy playing pretend. No matter how much you deny it, the Darkness will never leave you. It is a part of you, and one day it will win. It is inevitable."

"Shut up!" the Master roared as he conjured lighting to fry 'Ansem'. "You're wrong! And I'm going to prove it! This ends today!"

Lea sighed as he faced his childhood friend, unfamiliar yellow eyes looking back placidly. "Don't suppose we can settle this another way, huh Isa?"

The blue-haired man simply drew his claymore, his face stone. He was no more emotive than his Nobody. "You will lose," he stated.

Lea smirked and conjured his Keyblade in one hand and one of his chakram in the other. Flames seemed to flicker across the silver metal of both. "You're wrong there, buddy. You see, I'm going be the winner today. Got it memorized?" With that, he rushed forward to fight the shadow of the man he once considered a brother.

Ven was fully on the defensive, not able to lift his arm to attack. But it was not a fault of the body, but of the mind. For the one attacking him had the face of his best friend, Terra. Oh, the eyes and hair were different, and even on his grumpiest day Terra never had a sneer like that, but it was him. The man he had trained with under Master Eraqus, laughed with him, fought with him. Even knowing the stakes of this battle, Ven just couldn't do it.

"This is going to be even easier than I thought," Terra-Xehanort hissed as he kicked Ven in the chest, sending him flying back.

"Terra, please snap out of it! You don't have to do what Xehanort wants you to!" Ven shouted.

The avatar of Darkness scoffed. "You really don't get it, do you, you bumbling fool? Terra is gone! This form is nothing but a mask, a new shell for my purposes. It was so simple too, making the idiot succumb to the Darkness in his heart. But then, that is the way of things. The friend you knew is lost, and soon you shall be too!"

If the rant was meant to discourage, it backfired spectacularly. Ven's eyes hardened as he got back on his feet, brandishing his Keyblade with his unique reverse hold. "You're talking out your ass, Terra. Looks like I'll have to beat some sense into you." Swift as his namesake, Ventus attacked.

Aqua kept half an eye on the fight while dodging energy shots from the demented one-eyed sniper before her. When she got a second to breathe, she started twirl on the spot and return fire with orbs of light that homed in on Braig. He shot most out of the air before they hit him, but two or three went right for his face that he barely managed to dodge. "Hey! No going for the face!"

Aqua frowned. "I normally wouldn't say this, but I'm going to enjoy destroying you."

"Oh, please don't tell me you're holding a grudge from that time I distracted you from going after your boyfriend! That was, like, 13 years ago!" A stern glare was his only response. Xehanort's oldest flunky rolled his eyes before combining his two crossbows into a rifle. "Whatever. Not like it'll matter soon."

Kairi clutched Destiny's Embrace as she stared down Xemnas. "Ever get the feeling that you've been stuck with the left-overs?"

"You're talking to the man who led a group of Nobodies. That's all they are, you realize. The sad scraps of a person left behind once the Darkness takes them. Empty, and just aware enough to know the agony of that emptiness. So desperate to become whole again that they will do anything."

Kairi sighed. "Okay, I'm new to the whole megalomaniacal, existential ranting thing, so we can skip to the part where I kick your ass and go help my boyfriend save the world?"

Xemnas' eye twitched as he formed two Ethereal Blades. "I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation. If you insist on not taking this seriously, then allow me to grant you eternal bliss." A blink later, Kairi managed to avoid dismemberment only through instinct and luck as Xemnas appeared behind her. She came out of her roll and found herself engaged in the most rapid swordplay of her life.

'_Yikes! Next time I'll leave the mouthing off to the pros!'_

And so, in that dome of shadow, the fight began.

People are always at their best when they're fighting for what they care about. Mothers lift cars off their children, soldiers carry their friends on their backs for miles, the list goes on. But even the brightest flame of passion is bound to the fuel is burns from.

The army had served its purpose. Even fighting for the Light of the universe, even with revenge and hate lending strength, even with the horrible knowledge of the consequences of failure, our heroes were tired. They had already fought a war today. No number of potions and elixirs could simply undo the strain the Keybearers' bodies were under. There really was only one possible outcome against comparable, well-rested enemies.

Our seven heroes began to glow with a soft white light. As if in response, an aura of abyssal black creeped up around the villains. The light and dark seemed to weave together in the air, beginning to concentrate in a single point above their heads. In a flash, the X-blade appeared, the archetype upon which every Keyblade had been based, and the guardian of the heart of all things, Kingdom Hearts.

Its formation signified the beginning of the end.

As if it were coordinated ahead of time, every hero of the light was defeated when the X-blade appeared. Mickey fell to the ground, covered in horrific burns. Riku was pinned by the Guardian, covered in cuts gushing an unhealthy amount of blood. Lea was slammed into the ground headfirst by a well-timed swing of Lunatic, the impact making a crater. Ventus got a face full of Ultima Cannon, all but vaporizing him. Aqua fell backward, an expression of puzzlement freezing on her face, as the hole where her right eye used to be lazily leaked red. Kairi was pulled flush to her opponent's chest, a blade held so close to her throat she could kill herself by taking too deep a breath.

Xehanort shook his head and walked around the collapsed form of Sora, who quite simply could not move. No matter how hard he tried to make his muscles move so he could destroy the maniac behind every bad thing that ever happened to him, nothing happened. All he could do was glare, and even that was hard; it felt like his eyelids were strapped to two-ton weights. "Of all defeats, exhaustion is truly one of the most pitiful. I almost feel bad about this. Almost."

The madman's face lit up as he held out his hand and took hold of the legendary X-blade. "At long last." He turned to face Sora, his topaz eyes shining with the gleam of triumph. "You think you know war, boy? Allow me to reveal the depth of your ignorance." With that, Xehanort raised the X-blade towards the sky. A beam of pure energy rose into the sky, breaking through the barrier his underlings had set up without effort. The stormy sky parted, revealing a brilliant moon in the shape of a perfectly symmetrical heart. The moon seemed to absorb the energy and then shoot it back, where it coalesced into the grandest doors any world had ever seen. All marble and glass and gold, yet they were a pittance compared to the treasure lying behind them. With the sound of an era ending, the doors opened, revealing a light that wasn't blinding so much as overwhelming. The original Light. Something so beautiful that wars were fought over a sliver.

Thousands upon thousands of Corridors of both Darkness and Light opened, and in an instant the Graveyard was filled to the brim with people. People of every kind: male, female, tall, short, thin, human and a thousand other races. Yet despite the incredible diversity, they all had one thing in common: a blade shaped like a key in each of their hands. For a timeless moment, they all seemed to bask in the glory of the Light. Then, jealousy bloomed in every heart and they turned on each other, each determined to possess it.

The Second Keyblade War had begun.

Sora could only watch in silent horror as the most perfect thing he'd ever seen cause the most unholy. But as he'd heard so long ago: the closer you get to the light, the darker your shadow becomes. No wonder 'Ansem' could believe Kingdom Hearts was made of darkness; it generated it, all because the Light was too bright.

Xehanort looked on the bloodshed and the chaos with an expression of rapture. "Yes! Light gives birth to Darkness! With this War, the balance shall be restored!" He turned to face Sora, who was blinking tears from his eyes. "Your purpose has been served, boy. You might not have been my XIII, but you helped create this marvelous tool regardless." Xehanort caressed the X-blade as if it were his wife. "But now, you are no longer needed. And for being such an annoyance, I believe that you deserve a suitable punishment."

The X-blade began to glow again, its own power distinct from the Light, for it was born from the fusion of both Light and Dark. "Yes, I think the Unknown will suffice. Beyond Light and Dark and even Nothing. Casting your heart into that formless infinity should be torturous enough. Lost forever without anything of this World to cling to. Yes, that will suffice. Prepare for eternal damnation, boy." Xehanort pointed the X-blade at Sora with all the authority of fate itself, and released the energy that would condemn Sora to something worse than death.

Sora turned his eyes away, seeking out his own Light. Finding her, bathed in the Light of Kingdom Hearts, her eyes shining… that was a last sight he was okay with. His mouth weakly curved into a smile.

Kairi watched as her other half was about to be destroyed, and cried out in both heart and voice. "SORA!"

The beam hit, and Sora's heart was cast out beyond the edge of Existence.

* * *

Floating flying faith trust pixie dust happy thoughts are spinning around around around up down which way is down what is down no down not in chaos always moving never moving every color no color no time second minute century morning night afternoon quarter past none of that here if here is here how long has he been here who he what is he wish there was sound music beat beating heart lost in darkness not darkness unknown great unknown past the stars shining bright light there is light follow the light light bright like sun yellow sun glinting off water salt sea ocean Kairi blue as the sky sky sky sky something about the sky what who name be I am sky no not sky Sora I am Sora

_I am Sora._

* * *

Sora's return to reality was not gentle like waking up. It was more like breaking the surface the moment after your lungs have burst. Light seared his eyes, his ears trembled under sound, his skin shuddered at abrasive ground. Suddenly he had a body again, with a beating heart and air and muscles and bones and there was a world around that body vessel form purpose everything has purpose…

Okay so he wasn't fully out of it yet.

It took a few minutes for Sora to get used to being alive again, and the very fact he could tell time was passing made him happy enough to cry. Millions of little realizations like that sent his emotions on a rollercoaster. It was just such a relief to be _real_ again. He would never take anything for granted ever again.

He eventually managed to sort out enough of the blaring insistence of the world to notice that someone was shaking his shoulder enough to make his body do the worm. He turned to the culprit, ready to tear them a new one for interrupting his little moment, when he noticed hair red as an island sunset and eyes like sapphires and that little crinkle above her nose when she was worried.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted in jubilation, all but tackling her as he pulled her close like he was trying to pull her inside the safety of his ribcage. The sweet, familiar feel of her warmth and the tickle of her hair did more to orient him than Jack's compass could ever dream. He pressed his nose into her neck, inhaling the sweet smell of apricot coming off her hair and the clean smell of the ocean after a storm that was just Kairi.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Kairi wasn't returning him embrace, but instead squirming to get out of it. Also, their bodies didn't mesh together as naturally as he remembered. And as he paid attention to his sense of hearing, her voice was much higher than normal as she practically shouted "Get off me, Sora! Are you sniffing me? Weirdo!"

Sora pulled away, a sense of wrongness filling him. He'd been so excited to be back in reality, he hadn't noticed that it wasn't the same reality he left.

He and Kairi were in the Secret Place, which looked oddly bigger than he remembered. There was the door that was actually the Keyhole, and surrounding them on the boulders were their drawings. Only some of them were missing. The one nearest them were their portraits of each other, only the one he did of Kairi was only half-finished. Kairi was sitting in front of him, looking both worried and mad. And she couldn't have been a day over six years old.

"Kairi, you're a little kid!" Sora never had much of a brain-mouth filter, and it was on the fritz along with everything else. His voice was higher too.

Kairi looked at him like he was an idiot. "Yeah, and so are you."

Sora blinked and looked down. He was wearing the same clothes he wore when he was in kindergarten. And now that he took a second to 'feel' his body instead of rejoicing in simply having one, everything felt shorter and rounder than he was used to.

Kairi was still fuming. "What's wrong with you Sora? We were drawing like normal and then you start acting like you're drowning on dry land! And then you attack me! What have you got to say for yourself?"

Sora had forgotten that Kairi used to be very bossy. Island life had mellowed her out, but when she first showed up she had acted like she was a princess. Which, as it would turn out, she was. It was actually how she'd initially bonded with Selphie. And apparently they were back to that time.

Deciding to just go with the flow until he had a chance to really think, Sora made up an answer for Kairi. "Um, I had to sneeze, but I tried to stop it because Mom said I shouldn't do icky stuff in front of girls. That's why I was gasping and twitching. But I was losing and, uh, I thought I could kill the sneeze with your pretty smell so I hugged you. Sorry if I creeped you out."

Kairi blushed a little, but she mostly still looked confused. Sora held his breath. Eventually she rolled her eyes. "Boys are crazy. Let's just finish here and then we can go home. It's getting late anyway."

Breathing a secret sigh of relief that she'd swallowed that load of crock, Sora picked up his drawing rock. Ignoring the strongest sense of déjà vu he had ever felt in his life, Sora finished off the sketch of Kairi's face. Even though he was a horrible artist and scratching at stone wasn't the best medium, he tried to get every detail right. The end result was mostly still the cartoonish shadow he'd done (before?), but he thought it looked more like the angel she was than before.

Apparently completely forgetting the little episode, Kairi challenged him to a race outside. She actually won, and not because Sora threw it; he knew Kairi hated being coddled. Every move he made just felt 'off'. Later, he would realize that muscle memory from a fit teen wouldn't transpose well onto a shrimp of a toddler. But at the moment, he just knew that he had to devote all his mental energy to not tripping every other step.

They got outside, where the sunset was just setting the ocean on fire. Sora took a second to marvel at it; it was just so good to be _home_, no matter the freaky circumstances. Apparently something of his awe was clear on his face, because Kairi gave him a confused look. Panicking, he gave his usual goofy smile to try and deflect her. It seemed to work, as she turned and jogged to the dock.

"Sora! Play time with Kairi is over! It's time to go home!" Sora's father, Caelus, called from the dock. Sora took mostly after his Mom, from the unruly brown hair to the slim build and happy-go-lucky attitude. His dad was blonde, thick as an oak tree, and a man of few words. About the only thing Sora inherited was the ocean-blue eyes. Whereas Sora had formed a rivalry with the constantly better Riku, he idolized his dad.

Sora ran over to the dock, barely noticing how many times to slipped on the sand. He blew right past Kairi even so and went right up to his dad's feet. It was awesome to see his Dad again, even more so when he realized that he was small again. Which meant he could do this again: "Dad! Rocket! Pretty please!"

Sora's dad grinned indulgently. "Eager, ain't ya? Alright, just once." As easily as others would pick up the paper, Caelus tossed Sora a few feet above his head, easily catching him on the way down and setting him back on the ground. Sora had a grin that was nearly splitting his face. Sure, free-falling from the top of Big Ben was a bigger rush, but something about his dad doing it made it special.

Only when Kairi's jealousy was appeased by her own Rocket (after a solemn oath she wouldn't tell the mayor), Caelus herded the kids into the boat and got them back to the main island with swift, powerful strokes. Caelus owed his intimidating physical prowess to (Sora had to do a recount, accounting for his apparent age) fifteen years as a shipwright, building ships from the ground up, starting with chopping the trees to get lumber. He wouldn't hurt a fly, though.

When they got there, Sora and Caelus accompanied Kairi to her door. It wasn't too hard, considering they were next-door neighbors. Riku lived on the same street too. This had more to do with the small size of the island than socioeconomic status. And Sora reflected that Merlin's lessons must have actually worked if he was thinking such big words and knowing what they meant.

Sora kept up the charade of cheerful boy all the way through saying goodbye to Kairi (where he had to forcibly remind himself not to give a goodbye kiss), a delicious dinner cooked by his mom Skye (who seemed in shock that he didn't complain once about the vegetables) and his assisted bath (which was easily the most mortifying experience of his life now that he wasn't enjoying the ignorance of youth). It was only when he was safely tucked into his bed, staring at the stars that he got a chance to actually consider his situation.

Sora easily spent an hour crying when he remembered the disaster of the fight with Xehanort. They had lost. Plain and simple. They'd never had a chance, really, not when the bad guys got to cheat with their army while they had to actually follow the rules. He had the chance to actually mourn Donald instead of burying the grief with rage. And he shuddered as he remembered the terrible atrocities he'd witnessed in the brief opening stages of the War. He'd thought he'd known violence. But there weren't words for the things he'd seen all those wielders do over Kingdom Hearts.

Once he got that out of his system, he turned to the question of how he had escaped the Unknown. The answer was obvious: Kairi. She was his anchor, his personal guiding Light. Somehow, his heart had followed the pull towards her in the midst of that insanity and gotten out. And since apparently the Unknown was outside even Time, he'd come out about a year after Kairi had shown up.

A sudden fear popped up. Sora held out into his hand and reached into his heart. For the longest second of his life, nothing happened. Then he felt his call be answered as his Keyblade appeared in a sparkle of light, fitting into his palm as easily as breathing. Yes, it was a little big, and none of his callouses were there, but he was still a wielder.

Sora took a second to examine it. It wasn't the Kingdom Key like he'd expected, since all his Keychains were gone. It seemed to be made of glass or crystal, the scant moonlight throwing off rainbow sparkles all over the room. The teeth looked like the hands of a clock, and the Keychain was a pocket watch with the numbers written in reverse order. A name popped into his head: Prophetic Memory.

Curious, Sora reached into his heart again. _'Ven, big bro! I'm just going to borrow this!'_ In another flash, Wayward Wind appeared in his left hand. Sora smiled. One of the only things he didn't like about Ven was that his awakening had taken away his ability to dual-wield.

Absorbing both Keyblades back into his heart, Sora realized he actually was very tired. He was a little kid again, so maybe it wasn't such a surprise. Still, there was one thing he had to do.

Sora closed his eyes and saw all of his friends, all of the people he had failed. They would tell him he was talking crazy, but that's how it felt. "I swear to you, this time will be different. I won't be some surprised kid making stuff up as I go. I know what I have to prepare for. I'll get strong, strong enough that I'll be able to protect you all from anything. Things might not go the same way they did before, but maybe that's a good thing. All that matters is that I will never give up, and as long as you all are in my heart, I'll never have to."

Done with his little speech, Sora made himself comfy and settled down to sleep. With what he had planned to get ready for Xehanort, he was going to need it.

* * *

**So, what you think? I actually do plan to throw a few curveballs instead of just doing a novelization with a Godlike Sora. And it you've done me the courtesy of actually reading this little note:**

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


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